Chris Wharton elected as Salt Lake City Council Chair

A day after Erin Mendenhall was sworn in on the steps of the Salt Lake City County Building, the Salt Lake City Council elected Councilman Chris Wharton, who represents District 3, Capitol Hill, Avenues, and Federal Heights, as its chair.

The openly gay attorney will lead the council for a year, under city council rules, when a new chair will be elected.

Every January, the council elects one of its members to serve as chair and one member to serve as vice chair. Chair duties include: signing documents such as adopted ordinances and resolutions, representing the position of the council to the media and the mayor’s administration, oversees the management of the Office of the City Council, and scheduling items on the city council meeting agendas based on driving forward council priorities.

Wharton is the founding partner of Wharton O’Brien PLLC, was vice chair of the Board of Directors of the Utah Pride Center, and chair of the Salt Lake City Human Rights Commission. Chris also served on the board of the LGBT & Allied Bar Association of Utah.

“I’m thrilled to serve the residents of Salt Lake City as chair of the city council in the coming year,” said Wharton, who was first elected to the council in 2017. “Together with my colleagues and the mayor, as well as residents, businesses, community partners, and other leaders, we can tackle the issues before us and act on opportunities that help improve the quality of life in our prospering city.”

Andrew Johnston, who represents District 2, Glendale, was chosen as the vice chair.